Pierre's Blog

Bits and Bobs about Sales, PR, Marketing, Networking and Developing a Small Business

Monday, April 30, 2007

Words of wisdom for small businesses with big ambitions

Hey I'm a writer now - shameless plug about BusinessWise

I have had the pleasure of contributing to a collective book with a chapter on my main field of expertise: international multilingual communication.

Published by Britain’s Ecademy Press, BusinessWise is intended to help entrepreneurs or anybody who is thinking of starting her own business by bringing together the advice of 20 authors specialised in every field of expertise related to the business world.

Throughout the book, the authors share the experience and advice they usually reserve for their specialised seminars, from marketing to web design as well as taxation, sales, human resources and the internationalisation of activities.

The result is a comprehensive view that provides entrepreneurs with all the essential resources to drastically shorten learning curves and guarantee success.

Only send final versions – Tracking last-minute changes is not only a time-consuming (and costly) chore, it is also a source of errors.

Always send the source documentswhen requesting a quote - It will allow the translation company to make an accurate estimate based on the amount of words. Vaguely mentioning "about 10 pages" on the phone puts you at risk to end up with a quote plummeting at twice the price you were told initially.

Always request a detailed quote beforehand - And read it thoroughly. Look for hidden costs - normally there shouldn't be any! -, check the deadlines, make sure you will receive the right deliverables.

Be specific about what you want – Who is the target? What about the context? What is the final support? A trade fair, a corporate brochure, a website? Etc. The more details, the more chances there are that the end result will match your expectations.

Be ready to answer questions – Even if the project team who is in charge of your document is comfortable with your specific industry, some questions will arise: should the function names be translated or not, what about specific in-house terminology etc. This is especially true for large corporations.

Be ready to check & validate the translation - Good translation companies include a set of corrections in their prices.

Be realistic about deadlines - Translators are skilled experts who love words and want to make sure you get value for your money. Making a good translation takes time, so don’t rush them without necessity! (And let’s not forget the additional 30% for rush jobs). The thumb rule for non-urgent assignments is about 2,500 words per day + 1 additional day for quality control.

Think twice before you use Online Machine Translationtools – At least for texts that are intended for publication. At present these things mostly produce surrealist gibberish. And if you do – by all means have the result properly edited before you publish it if you don’t want to get yourself in the middle of a PR minefield.

… And remember that the most expensive translation is the one with a mistake!

Friday, July 14, 2006

Networking: Six key ideas for effective networking

Still unknown and underused by many business people, online professional networking platforms can represent a major source of business opportunities.Besides the specific qualities of sites such as Ecademy, OpenBC and LinkedIn, these platforms have a series of principles in common that are useful for making the most of them.Here are six key ideas to get the most out of your business networking activities, online or in the real world:1 – Your network is not your market, but a way to access itEven if some of your direct contacts may need your services, your network provides you with the opportunity to increase the profitability of your business approach thanks to leveraging.So do not pitch your network, but pump the contacts who know potential clients.

2 – Winning by sharingGiving before receiving is often the best way to become known and appreciated by those who could point you to opportunities. Update your contacts regularly without trying to sell at all costs. When they will meet someone who needs your services, it is your name rather than that of another that will come to mind.

3 – Communicate clearlyYour contacts are not necessarily familiar with your business or your job. It is up to you to communicate clearly by reaching out to them. Make sure that they understand what you do or what you are looking for, as only then will they be in a position to help you if the opportunity arises.

4 – Take your time to pamper your networkFirst, your contacts are not your key-audience, nor partners or potential clients.They are first and foremost human beings with whom you are looking to create a relaxed and pleasant interaction.Take the time to find out more about them, find out if you have anything that can be useful to them, and contact them or answer them in a personalised way.

5 - ParticipateMost platforms have forum and blog functionalities.Participate! By interacting in forums or publishing online content, you are sure to be noticed and increase the chances of useful contacts.

6 - The network will give back to youOnline networking platforms are a multilateral source of opportunities. Also, when you help out a contact, do not expect reciprocity on their part. It is the network that will give back to you and often enough you will get back a hundred times what you put in!

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Sales: Don't Sell - Just Tell

I had a strange and most interesting experience today as I met a French businesswomen who is currently putting a customizable CMS platform on the market.

It was just a networking meeting and no selling was not on the agenda on either side.

We met during more than two hours and I spent most of that time listening to her and asking questions in order to try and understand thoroughly what her project was about.

The more I listened the more I understood, the more I could put myself in her potential clients's shoes, the more I became interested in her product.

In the course of the meeting she explained me that the main issue she currently faces is that she can't find a good sales person.

Yet if I had been a potential buyer, during these two hours she would have convinced me to buy, and at the end of the meeting I told her that I would be most happy to spread the word about her product to targeted people who will love it for sure.

Ultimately this informal networking meeting turned out to be a great sales meeting for her.

So - the lesson I learned today is that if you believe in what you do and are really passionate about it, you don't need any sales pitches and costly roadshows to sell your stuff.

You just have to meet people who are willing to listen to you and tell them what you do.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Networking - Why Ecademy is my favourite platform

Since I discovered online business networking in June 2004, I have joined several platforms - yet my favorite one remains Ecademy.

You will find me on half a dozen platforms - OpenBC, LinkedIn, Soflow and the French Viaduc and 6Nergies. On each platform I have between 20 and 150 contacts with whom I share useful information, referrals and occasional business opportunities.

So why do I prefer Ecademy ?

Because it combines a very complete range of tools with a unique set of values that are best described in its philosophy - " Winning by Sharing " - and its motto - " A Friend in Every City " - and mind you, because the management walks the talk.

The result is a huge sense of community you can hardly find anywhere else, and an unparalleled ROI.

There are many great features on Ecademy but here's my Top 3:

1 - Most members are truly committed to help without expecting anything in return.Two days after joining I was surprised to discover a dozen messages saying "Hello, welcome, please let's connect, how can I help ?". These were no disguised sales pitches but spontaneous offerings from existing members, and several of them have become real friends since then.

2 - You can connect directly with any member on line or face to face.There is no such thing as a referral or introduction system. If you want to get in touch with someone all you have to do is send a message. Most remarkable is that this process is self-regulated so you don't get spammed. On the other hand all members can join one of the many local meetings that are scheduled on the online calendar.

3 - Your content on Ecademy - blogs, comments on forums and commercial ads - accesses top visibility on Google within hours.Just to prove my point, I Googled myself today. On 9,620,000 results for Pierre Leonard, my profile and my latest blog on Ecademy respectiely rank first and second. It has been like this for months notwithstanding the Google Dance.

Connecting with a potential partner on the other side of the world, finding a new resource, giving or getting appropriate advice, telling what I'm doing and seeing what others are doing, or quite simply meeting exceptional people - all these features are made easy and they litterally help me each day get closer to my business and personal goals.

Ecademy is an amazingly rich communication platform, a fantastic way to cut through the learning curve, an awesome bank of knowledge for personal and business development, an incredible PR tool and a wonderful toy...

But most of all, it is a place of many rich human interactions and true values, where being yourself and allowing yourself to give, share and receive with a light heart make deep sense.

And this is why Ecademy is my favourite platform.

If you want to know more about Ecademy, simply follow this link or go directly to my profile.

So - Beyond the fact that we seem more prone to answer when asked about your clients, what conclusions do we draw?

- First: a confirmation that price doesn't sell. This is pretty obvious if you are a provider, but it doesn't appear to be the main concern of the client either.

- Second: the feature the client wants most is service, ahead of quality. But Quality is a strong asset if you are the provider.

- Third: deadlines are the "soft spot" in the client-provider relationship, so it is clearly where the negociation margin lies when it comes to the triangle Quality/Price/Deadline.

- Fourth: demanding clients are profitable. This is probably because they know quality and service have a price (all the respondants dumped the clients who wanted everything for free before voting - clever guys!).

Now I realise I should have included a sixth possible choice in the 2nd poll:

"Your most profitable clients are those who spread the word about how great you are".

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Development - Localisation : how to ruin your brand abroad for sure with an ill-chosen name

The corporate world is full of horrendous stories about how corporations suffer serious image losses on overseas markets simply because they neglect to take the cultural differences into consideration.

One of the best known examples - which by the way ultimately appears to be false - is about the Chevrolet Nova. No one understood why the car didn’t sell on Spanish-speaking markets until someone finally realised that “No Va” means “doesn’t go” in Spanish.

The story may be true or not, but the point remains: names that have no connotation whatsoever in French for instance can have an odd meaning in another language.

Another example? Each day as I take the kids to school in Brussels I walk past a house door with a copper plate that reads:

Dentistes

Dr S. Mean - Dr Y. Pain

"Dentists... Mean... Pain"? Aaaouch. I am certain they are great practitioners… but I wouldn’t bet they have that many English-speaking patients…

So – if you are about to expand your activity in a country where a foreign language is spoken, remember to make sure your corporate name won’t play a nasty trick on you!

Those interested can find other stories about mistranslations here - and if you come across other similar gems, please forward them to me! I’d be delighted to publish them with a link to you.

About the author: Pierre Leonard is the co-founder and owner of Virtual Words, a company that provides translations in 40 languages thanks to a global network of 1500 language experts.

Author

I am Pierre Leonard, the co-founder and owner of a translation company named Virtual Words that provides language services in some 40 European and Asian languages thanks to a global network of 1500 translators. My job is labelled "Director of International Sales and Development". Oh my.